Mike Zimmer on Bobby Petrino: He Is a Gutless Coward

It’s good to know that a coach can’t get away with unprofessionally walking out on his team and have everyone forget about it. We certainly won’t forget the way Bobby Petrino deserted the Falcons, and I’m sure Alge Crumpler wonn’t either.

In case you don’t remember, Petrino used to be the coach at Louisville from 2003-2006 and had a ton of success. He became the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons for the 2007 season, the year Michael Vick wound up going to jail. With Joey Harrington as the team’s starting quarterback, you knew Petrino would be line for a tough season. The team went 3-10 and he quit mid-season, leaving a note in the locker room for the players that he was taking the Arkansas job. Yeah, class act I know.

So what does Mike Zimmer, who was the Falcons’ defensive coordinator at the time, say about Petrino? Well, it’s nothing positive:

“When a coach quits in the middle of the year and ruins a bunch of people’s families and doesn’t have enough guts to finish out the year, I’m not a part of it. He’s a coward, he ruined a bunch of people’s lives, a bunch of families, kids, because he didn’t have enough (guts) to stay there and finish the job. And that’s the truth. Most people in football have enough courage about him and enough fight to stick it out and not quit halfway through the year. It’s cowardly.”

Zimmer added that Petrino told the coaches he’d talk to them all at a later time, but nobody has spoken to him since. Bobby Petrino: scared of Texas, scared of his former coaches. Why am I not surprised?